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Original poster

Weird household rules you had growing up.

325 replies

habibihabibi · 06/07/2019 18:14

A number of odd rules but most memorable:
My mother did not allow us to sit ot lie on beds unless in our pj's ready to sleep.
Not allowed in bedrooms during the day unless poorly.
If we had friends over we had to play in the garden/playroom.
We were not permitted downstairs in pjs ever.
Straight from bath to bed and immediately washed and dressed on waking.

Hit me with your strange rules Grin

OP posts:
BobTheFishermansWife · 06/07/2019 19:17

I don't think there were any major rules that you would call odd growing up, the only 2 I can think of are:

No tvs in bedrooms. I still have this rule in my house, don't feel the need for them.

No boyfriends/girlfriends in bedrooms until the relationship was at least 6 months. Even then bedroom door had to be open at all times. I did notice that once my brother had a girlfriend it wasn't enforced any longer. - challenged my parents, it was because I bought my first boyfriend home at 16, my brother bought his home from uni for the weekend at 19.

peoplepleaser1 · 06/07/2019 19:19

Wow some of these do seem quite unusual to me.

Ineedaweeinpeace · 06/07/2019 19:21

You must go to the toilet before leaving any place. Always.

I cannot leave any place always without going to the toilet whether I need it or not!

MoreCuddlesForMummy · 06/07/2019 19:21

I do the no downstairs with jammies on thing now with my 2.5 year old. She knows we both have to do three things before we go downstairs. Get dressed, brush hair (under extreme duress) and brush teeth. I think it’s because we often lounged about in pjs when I was young and maybe I’m worried about my wasted youth 😂

On the odd occasion I need a shower in the morning (I tend to shower at night) we have breakfast in our jammies and it’s a real treat/excitement!

Works for us though as we’re pretty much ready to dash out the door as soon as the breakfast things are tidied away and I figure that’s not a bad routine to have 😬

ReganSomerset · 06/07/2019 19:22

We also had no tvs in bedrooms, no laptops until eighteen and no boyfriends in rooms ever.

EggysMom · 06/07/2019 19:23

I'd have to go to bed before them. And they went to bed at 10-10:30. It was so that I wouldn't "disturb" them after they'd gone to bed, and they "couldn't sleep" until they knew I was safe in bed. Thing is, this continued from teenage years into my early twenties ....

VictoriaBun · 06/07/2019 19:23

Not me but used to play with the girl next door. They had lots of rules.
You had butter or jam on your bread, not both.
Only one bath a week.
Same food every week i.e Monday sausages, Tuesday shepherd's pie , Wednesday something else.
Her dad checked the meter every week, if it was more one week the family had to use less the following week.
He checked his children's shoes to make sure they wasn't wearing the soles away.
Fuck that life !

Charles11 · 06/07/2019 19:28

I’m glad I never had any strict rules like that. I loved lying on my bed to read in the middle of the day.
The only rule that was a bit extreme that we never ever allowed to switch on any lights unless the curtains were drawn.

Rainbowknickers · 06/07/2019 19:29

We where to allowed a drink with a meal-no matter how hot it was/time since your last drink
You had to eat everything on your plate-so some meals lasted 5+ hours
Or if we managed to wear down our parents and left it-it would be dished up for the next meal-I think the record was 4 days
My dad worked at rowntrees nestle so we got a lot of ‘waste’ sweets-we couldn’t have Cadbury’s
Our uniforms had to wear for a week-no matter how dirty they got
We’d open our birthday presents and my mother would hold half of them back ‘for later’ most of the time we wouldn’t get them back-she’d regift them

Original poster
habibihabibi · 06/07/2019 19:32

Baguetteaboutit
We all had terrible asthma and hayfever but strangely my mother slid up all the windows everyday so I dont think the bedroom ban was to keep pollen out.

OP posts:
floraloctopus · 06/07/2019 19:35

The only rule that was a bit extreme that we never ever allowed to switch on any lights unless the curtains were drawn.

We had that rule too and also the one about not leaving the table until you had eaten everything on your plate. The adults could leave the table but children had to stay there.

smallereveryday · 06/07/2019 19:35

My home was pretty lax .
No food in bedroom
No boys in bedroom.

That was it

Next door neighbours .. v posh

NEVER allowed in the drawing room. It was for adults only. !!
Playroom was our space.

Cannot remember EVER seeing their mother but we did have ponies and went riding on roads at the age of 8 .. she was never there... no mobiles early 70s ..

My own mother just expected me back for dinner at 6:30. (Chucked out at 8am..) Rural. Area

Original poster
habibihabibi · 06/07/2019 19:37

Crunchymum yes !
When I read that I thought, yikes is my mother on MN!

OP posts:
PettyPois · 06/07/2019 19:41

We weren't allowed to say the word 'pub'. We had to call it 'the drinks shop'.

We went to the pub drinks shop as a family once a month, and never to eat! My parents never went alone.

GertrudeCB · 06/07/2019 19:44

No food in bedrooms.
No dogs in bedrooms.
No child visitor's if dad was on nights.
All pretty normal looking back, at the time I was convinced my DP's were Victorian parents 😂

notso · 06/07/2019 19:44

We weren't allowed a drink with soup,
"the soup is the drink"

No it bloody isn't. I love to drink an ice cold drink if I'm having soup with my parents now and see them silently seethe!

GertrudeCB · 06/07/2019 19:45

Ignore the random apostrophe.

TheWashingFairyatemyhamster · 06/07/2019 19:46

Only the upstairs loo could be used for pooing. Woe betide you if you pooed in the downstairs loo!

I told DH before he first visited my parents. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of DM! Neither of my brothers told their wives. It only came out one evening when we were at the pub. Both of my DSILs were mortified, but also mystified!

EdWinchester · 06/07/2019 19:49

No TV during the day. I still like this rule.

topcat2014 · 06/07/2019 19:49

Christ alive, some people had miserable uptight bastards for parents..only half joking

MrsGaryLightbody · 06/07/2019 19:53

Oh the memories!
I was allowed to watch Blue Peter but not Magpie .. it was too common. Hmm
I was not allowed Jeans as they were for Gypsies nor was I allowed to have pierced ears as they too were deemed only for GypsiesHmm
I wasn't allowed to play with the children next door cos I once let slip that their mum gave us lunch and we had it sitting on the floor!
Oh so many more ! It was pretty stifling no wonder I rebelled.

Natsku · 06/07/2019 19:58

Couldn't say the word fart. No eating until someone (usually me) said grace.

EdWinchester · 06/07/2019 20:04

yy - after school Blue Peter, never Magpie.

And fart was a swear word.

And, to my shame, mixing with anyone from the 'estate' was frowned upon.

WeaselsRising · 06/07/2019 20:05

No boys in bedrooms.
No talking at the table.
When DM told us to do something it was NOW, not when you'd finished what you were doing.
No waking up parents. Had to be really quiet in the morning.

SeaOtterFluff · 06/07/2019 20:06

I wasn't allowed to stay up after my parents had gone to bed, and they were in bed at 9.15pm. I was eventually allowed a tv in my room at the age of 17 so watched Red Dwarf and The Mary Whitehouse Experience with earphones and the brightness turned right down. No overnight guests, ever. So I've never stayed over since I left 22 years ago.